IRIN Evaluation Report - March 2003
by Graham Mytton & Sharon Rusu

Acknowledgements
The Evaluators wish to acknowledge with thanks the time and effort extended
to them on the part of IRIN and OCHA Management and Staff.

Introduction

1. The lack of reliable information and impartial news sources in Rwanda in early 1994 helped to create conditions in which misinformation and propaganda fuelled human rights' violations on a previously unprecedented scale. The Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), which opened its first office in Nairobi, Kenya in late 1995, was developed as a response to the Great Lakes' crisis to provide accurate, timely and contextual information from a regional perspective to humanitarian workers in the field, decision makers at headquarters and local populations.
2. IRIN started by analyzing and synthesizing information on the Great Lakes region. It has since expanded its geographical coverage to include West Africa and Southern Africa by establishing offices in Abidjan and Johannesburg and now reports on 46 African countries. IRIN established an office in Islamabad in July 2000 to report on developments in Afghanistan and seven other countries in Central Asia. IRIN's information products include analytical reports, daily summaries of events, chronologies, interviews, and weekly digests.
3. As IRIN enters its eighth year, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), of which IRIN is part, proposed an evaluation to review IRIN's progress.

   Purpose of the Evaluation

4. The purpose of the evaluation was to review the experience of the IRIN network, learn from this and provide accountability to donors, OCHA management and its constituencies by assessing the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, value-added, impact and sustainability of IRIN's products and services, with emphasis on current services and organisation. The evaluation sought to obtain opinions from a broad base of subscribers, including UN, NGOs, media, donors, governments, academics and civil society.¹
5. Two consultants, Graham Mytton and Sharon Rusu, were selected by OCHA on the basis of their backgrounds and experience in media marketing, humanitarian affairs and information management. Field visits were carried out in New York (briefing), Nairobi, Johannesburg, and Pristina. The purpose of the field visits was to undertake interviews with key stakeholders. A visit to Abidjan was planned, but due to the security situation at the time, not completed. However, questionnaires were duly sent out to key stakeholders. An e-survey was also carried out. Though IRIN has no physical presence in the Balkans, the advantage of adding Kosovo was to compare the humanitarian information capacity and response in an area a)which has no IRIN presence and b) where the potential for renewed conflict continues to exist.

   Principal Findings and Recommendations
   Findings of the Electronic Survey

6. We ran a survey of IRIN users in December 2002 using both emailed and web-based questionnaires. 1,891 responses were received from the email contacts. But only 91 responded to the web-based questionnaire.² The main findings are as follows:
   • Users gave IRIN a high rating for all major factors by which a humanitarian news agency can be best assessed - with very high scores for Credibility. Relevance, Timeliness and Depth of Coverage and Detail.
   • 89% gave IRIN's Credibility a score of 4 or 5 out of 5. The equivalent figures for Relevance, Timelines and Depth were 89%, 84% and 67% respectively.
   • More than two in three IRIN users recall recent stories (and gave examples) that they had seen first on IRIN.
   • Three in four IRIN users believe that it had information that other agencies and sources did not have, and were able to give several recent examples.
   • Nearly two in three IRIN users thought that the agency provided views of events, people and organisations that were not otherwise available, and were able to provide several recent examples.
   • Significantly, media users were the most likely of all to view IRIN as an original and exclusive source for some stories. Four out of five Media subscribers believed IRIN provided exclusive information.
   • Most IRIN users work in the field of humanitarian relief and related activities - in NGOs, government service, the UN and its agencies, the media, private companies and in teaching and research.
   • IRIN users report very regular use, with 94% having read IRIN content within the previous week, 72% within the previous day.
   • IRIN material is used in a wide variety of ways and for a variety of purposes. In most cases, users wish to keep up to date with particular countries, areas or stories. Many also use IRIN for background material about crises.
   • More than half IRIN users regularly pass content on to others, thus considerably expanding IRIN's reach.
   • Most IRIN users - 73% - also visit the IRIN website, although not nearly as regularly as they read or use the email service. The most frequent users of the website were those who work in the media.
   • One in four IRIN users had visited the IRIN website within the previous week.
   • Most IRIN subscribers use the Internet as a news source. The BBC is their most used Internet source for world news. The prime source for humanitarian and development news for most respondents was IRIN, and it came far ahead of any other source.
   • Few respondents (only 17%) were willing to answer a question about the annual value to them of IRIN's services. The median figure given by those who did reply was $100.
7. The e-survey showed that present IRIN users have a very high regard for IRIN and place a high value on its products and services.

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